viernes, 29 de junio de 2012

OPEN LETTER TO HUGO CHAVEZ FRIAS

Dear Sir:

In this letter I would like to summarize my
opinion about your performance, so that it could be available to future
students of early XXI century Venezuela.

When history about this period is
written and your presence is long gone future Venezuelans will be able to
understand in its true magnitude the disaster you created. This disaster has
not been one-dimensional but financial, social, administrative, institutional
and, especially, spiritual.

I will start by this last
category. Beyond political ideologies the primordial duty of a chief of state
is to unify the people around policies that promote national progress. To be
able to do this he, she must utilize persuasion, exercise a truly inspiring
leadership and maintain respect and tolerance for dissenters. These are
essential components of democracy. You have done exactly the opposite. For 15
years you have sown hatred among our population, accusing the middle class of
gains at the expense of the poor, calling us “apatridas” (stateless). Your
attitude has been criminal and has created a deep cleavage in Venezuelan society,
one that will only be repaired long after you are gone. You have been an anti-leader,
not the leader the nation required.

In the institutional sector you
have annihilated all autonomy of powers, a fundamental ingredient of democracy.
No one can deny that our judicial and moral powers, as well as the National
Electoral Council, the National assembly and the Armed Force are controlled by
political eunuchs you have bought with money that belonged to the people. Every
day we observe examples of the prostitution you have brought to our
institutions with the help of oil money. Your actions have been openly criminal
and deserve exemplary punishment.

Your main administrative duty was
to use honestly and efficiently our national resources. You have failed, not in
isolated cases, but in a systematic manner. You have turned Petroleos de
Venezuela, the state-owned oil company into an importer and distributor of low
quality food, often spoiled, and have
subjected the company to chronic under investment. This has caused a drastic
reduction in oil production and a serious deterioration of plant and equipment.
You have converted the company into your preferred vehicle to obtain fresh
money to finance your political plans. As a result the company now has a debt
approximately 30 times higher than when you came into power. The development of
the huge oil resources of the Orinoco region is at a standstill since you have
placed the region in the hands of state-owned companies from socialist
countries that lack the required capital or technology to do the job. Predictably
not one single new barrel of upgraded oil has been produced from this region
during your 14 years in power.

The industrial agglomerate of the
Guayana region (CVG) is bankrupt. The country is now importing many of the
products this complex used to produce and its affiliate companies no longer
generate cash flow to pay their employees.

Ministries have proliferated,
such as the Ministry of Prisons, under the management of a notorious friend of
the criminals or the Ministry for Caracas Housing, run by a corrupt minister
who gives government contracts to his private partner.

The social sector has been the
fundamental claim to your popularity. Your strategy is based on direct
subsidies: free medical attention, massive, low-amount scholarships, bonuses
for special groups such as pregnant mothers and the handicapped, free or
subsidized food and transport, houses to followers of your twitters. This could
have been an acceptable strategy if it had been more transparent and accompanied
by structural programs against poverty and for health and education. Since this
has not been the case, the population has become more and more dependent on
government handouts, in exchange for which you demand political loyalty. You handout fish but you do not teach people
how to fish. When you are gone you will leave behind an immense legion of
beggars.

In the financial sector you have
wasted a record national income, more than one trillion dollars in your 14
years in power. No president has had so much money at his disposal. But there
is little in Venezuela to show for it. Roads, buildings, universities,
hospitals are lacking maintenance and no new significant public works have been
built. Where is the money? We should look for it in Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia,
Ecuador, in the pockets of your government staff and friends, in Russia, as
payment for the military toys bought from Mr. Putin; in Argentina, Mexico and
Peru, given to presidential candidates of your choice. Although you claim that
wealth is a perversion you have used Venezuelan money to buy $50,000 watches, $65
million airplanes and expensive clothing and to stay at the best hotels in the
world accompanied by entourages of 50 or more persons, including cooks, doctors
and bodyguards. The frequent visits to Cuba for medical treatment, where you
hold cabinet meetings attended by all members of your cabinet, cost the nation
some $300,000 per day.

And now you are running, once
more, for president since you claim, quite cynically, that you are finally
“learning to govern” and “need more time to consolidate the revolution”. You
are financing your campaign with national resources, as has been convincingly
documented. You are even getting the nation into new debt to finance your campaign.

If you were an honest person,
truly concerned about the welfare of our nation, you would not try to stay in
power, not only because of the disaster you have already created but also
because you are in a lamentable physical and mental condition. You are shrewd
enough to see that your followers will vote for you viscerally. They are no
longer worried about what is best for the nation but about “winning”, about
keeping the rich and the enemies of the “revolution” off the presidency. This
is a primitive, Jurassic-like, political objective. You could have followed the
examples of Mandela, Clavel, Cardoso, Lula or Betancourt but decided to throw
your lot with Mugabe, Hussein, Gadhafi, Castro, Sure Shot Marulanda (FARC),
Ahmadinejad and Lukashenka, the political underworld of our planet.

What I have said in this letter
is not just an opinion. It can be documented, and in fact is already largely
documented. Mr. Chavez: Your criminal record is gigantic and will serve to
bring you to justice sooner or later. I will do all within my power to see that
this is done.

Some Chavez followers may vote viscerally, but most vote: obligated/threatened (Govt. employees/military/contractors); afraid (Captahuellas); bought (Misiones/Consejos Comunales); or simply paid with cash If it weren't for these pressures, even with the obscene illegal Government pro-Chavez financing and TV/other propaganda, Chavez would be lucky to get 30% of the popular vote. Most Venezuelan poor could give a damn about Class-Struggle rhetoric. They are only interested in what they can get for themselves, and are fearful of losing their "cambur", but they do know that Chavismo has not really worked to better their living conditions.